RNC 2016: A knife on Public Square offers insight into police handling of 'hate group'

Cleveland police speak with a man linked to the Soldiers of Odin after finding a knife on him while he was in Public Square. The man was not charged, but police ordered him to place it in his car.

(The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Members of the Soldiers of Odin say they simply want to help police make our communities safer, similar to a neighborhood watch group.

Some analysts disagree. They say the members make up a vigilante group bent on hate, one that is linked to white supremacists.

On Wednesday night, Cleveland Police stopped two members of the group near Public Square amid demonstrations and protests at the Republican National Convention. Officers found that one of the members was carrying a knife longer than the 2 1/2-inch limit set in place for items carried near the RNC. Police walked the man away from demonstrators and allowed him to bring the knife to his car.

The incident did not result in an arrest, but it did offer insight into the group and much larger issues, including how police have handled such situations and how carefully officers should monitor some demonstrators at events like the convention.

"The Soldiers of Odin are part of the extreme right,'' said Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center. "They're a neo-Nazi vigilante group. They will say that they aren't neo-Nazi, but that's just not true.''

In a detailed report, the Anti-Defamation League said the group formed in Finland last year. It is named after Odin, the Nordic god of war and death. Earlier this year, the report said, the group moved to the United States.

"It's new American chapter, known as Soldiers of Odin USA, has - just since February - already amassed thousands of American members and cheerleaders ready and eager to support the group's chapters in Finland and other countries and to bring its anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and refugee-hating ideology to American shores,'' the report states.

The report said the group has attracted the "two largest segments of the American extreme right - white supremacists and the anti-government extremist 'Patriot' movement.''

Two members of the group blasted the report as inaccurate. They declined to give their names to The Plain Dealer, but they stressed they simply are part of a group that supports police.

"We just observe and report,'' one of the men said, scanning the crowd. "We came here to support the police, not that they need it. I've never in my life seen this many police officers.

"We're not here to cause trouble. We don't hate anyone. We are misunderstood. We're not a group of criminals. We simply want to look out for our community.''

The men handed out a pamphlet that stressed the group's goals and objectives. They said they are not part of the Soldiers of Odin in Europe, and they said they only are affiliated with the group in Ohio and the United States.

"We are not a racist group, gang, motorcycle club, religious group or any criminal organization,'' the pamphlet said. "We have members of different races, religious beliefs and cultures.''

As police arrived, the men listened carefully and were polite. The man with the knife said he did not know that knives could not be carried. The officers, with few people realizing what had happened, handled the situation calmly and without an incident.